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D1 coach needs help in DIII Topic

Hey, took over a DIII school for p6453 in knight.He got sick and asked for a hand.I coach a damn good DI team in smith, but find myself struggling here.Need some DIII recruiting advice.Have no prob with 3 other A+ schools within 300 miles of me in DI.but have no idea how to aproach DIII recruiting. Have a A- prestige and am only offered pretty crappy recuits.Do they get better in the later stages?Noticed most of the player on the team are from a good distance away.Wait till the close of recruiting for dropdowns or get the best available right away?Want to keep the team strong till his return.

I go about half-local, half-long distance. I never manage the perfect recruiting class year in and year out, but even with a dud or two on my roster, I still managed back-to-back NC's.

I think the most important thing you can do is find a balance of pure skill and pure ath/def players. Occasionally you'll find one or two amazing players who can actually shoot the ball, possess some other intangibles, and have the athleticism and defense rating to make an impact on both sides of the court, but more often than not you've got to grab at least a couple guys who specialize in defense and a couple more who specialize in offense. Athleticism and speed are huge at the DIII level. They can compensate for lackluster overall skills and provide you with some respectable talent.

But yeah, most coaches at DIII (especially with A- prestige or higher) go after mid-level DII recruits for pull-downs/drop-downs. I personally try to sign one or two pull-downs, but I usually can find guys with decent ratings and very solid potential at the DIII level. For example if you go under player ratings in DIII and search the highest rated freshman, he's a SF on my team who I signed at the DIII level without having to pull him down. But he's also an example of a player who will likely be a tremendous offensive threat, but never much of a force on defense.

how strong and tightly packed is the conference? In the NAC in Allen we were all together around Maine but we made a lot of post season cash so we could spread our wings a bit and scout out a bit farther. Generally its better to try to spend a little cash looking for diamonds in the rough vs fighting battles, however there are many winnable battles, so don't completely eschew battling, just be shrewd in picking your battles.

With D3 teams you will have to piece together players whose strengths offset other players weaknesses since all of your players are going to have weaknesses...I know this is pretty generic advice and maybe you wanted something more specific, but its sort of a hands on situation by situation type experience... don't forget about drop downs and pull downs, and maybe read through aejones' how to win at d3 and d2 thread (i'll bump it)

Quick question: So, I've called & sent letters to a recruit. He accepted a Fr start. But no visits or AC scouts. He's considering me, but will he sign if I offer him a scholly, or do I need an in-person visit like in Gridiron D? Thanks!

Posted by dream76 on 2/24/2014 10:39:00 AM (view original):Quick question: So, I've called & sent letters to a recruit. He accepted a Fr start. But no visits or AC scouts. He's considering me, but will he sign if I offer him a scholly, or do I need an in-person visit like in Gridiron D? Thanks!

Thx for the responses guys, yes this is pauls Oberlin team.So far so good 5-0 with them,I guess my biggest concern was if I should wait to see if the recruits get better and to hold back the limited funds I will have.Or secure the best guys available from the get go.If any of you want to chip in and help with pauls team Im sure he would be thankful.

From what I can gather, it's a mix of the two. Get some guys you like locked up, but keep some funds in reserve for dropdowns/pulldowns. Also, read the Aejones thread that was bumped to the front page. Super useful for D2/D3 coaching.